Combination packing and valve.



R. n. BRADFORD.

COMBINATION PACKING AND MLVE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 30, 1.914.

1,30%;7fi3 Patented May13, 1919.

FIG .1

BOIBEIIEUJI DANIEL BRADFORD, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

- COMBINATION PACKING AND VALVE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 13, 1919.

Application filed December 30,1914. Serial No. 879,796.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT DANIEL BRAD- FORD, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain and Ireland, residing at 43 Lissenden Mansions, HighgateRoad, London, England, have invented anew or Improved CombinationPacking and Valve, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to an inclined packing made of flexible hardmaterial which has a continuous contact surface and is ex pansible, forpumps, pistons, stuffing-boxes, glands or other members, and that may beused as a valve, in which a fluid tight joint is required to be madebetween two parts that are relatively movable axially, and the inventionhas for itsobject the provision of a combined'packing and valve of thiskind in which the greater part of the joint surface making contact withthe Wall to be packed is of large superficial area and consequently oflong wearing durability.

According to this invention a combination packing and valve consists ofa sheet of hard material bent-t0 a form having a continuous expansibleand contractible peripheral surface adapted to contact with a wall to bepacked and having corrugations increasing in depth from the contactsurface to an inexpansible part of the bent sheet that can be held fastrelatively to the wall to be packed; the contact surface being in partat the edges of inclined approximately radial folds of the bent sheetand in part portions of a side of the said bent sheet.

When concentric and parallel surfaces require to be packed, as in thecase of a piston rod and stuffing box, for example, the packing isannular and formed of a piece of hard material (glass, tempered steel,chilled cast iron, or other suitable material) bent so that it convergesfrom an intermediate part toward the center on its inner side and sothat one of its undulating edges makes contact with the rod or the like,while it diverges from the said intermediate part on its outer side sothat its other undulating edge makes contact with the stuffing box wallor the like.

Flexible sheet packings according to this invention are well suited foruse as valves and since they press on the seating surfaces or wallsduring that stroke only in which pressure is exerted to force themtoward the seatings or walls they are more economical and durable in usethan ordinary packings.

Moreover, they are adaptable to surfaces or walls of oval, square orpolygonal, as well as tosurfaces of cylindrical form.

In the accompanying drawings Figures 1, 2 and 3 show in plan, elevationand section on the line 33 Fig. 1, respectively, a form of packing thatmay alsobeused as a valve, constructed in accordance with thisinvention.

The packing illustrated by the drawings, is made from a plate, bent asshown in Fig. 1, where g, 9 indicate linesalong which the plate,preferably of metal-isbent. The parts of the plate which make contactwith the inner wall to be packed, for example the inner wall of astufling box, are indicated by h and that part adapted for contact withthe outer surface, for example of a piston rod, is indicated by z'.

lVhen bent along the lines 9, 9 according to this invention, the packingwill 'beof annular shape as shown in *Fig. 1, having corrugations withradial folds j which, as will be obvious from Figs. 2 and 3, allow acircumferential extension 'or contraction due to the slight relativelateral movement of the contact surfaces k and 2' and which movement iscorrelative to the pressure of a fluid acting from below or aboverespectively. In the former case the said fiuid, in tending to expandthe packing, presses the surfaces It, 71. and z, 2' into closer contactwith the inner and outer walls, while in the latter case the pressuretends to collapse the packing and to remove the said surfaces h, h andi, 2' from the walls and to pass the fluid between. Thus in this formalso, the packing is available for use as a valve for fluid proceedingin one direction and as a tight joint to fluid tending to proceed in theother direction.

After the packing is bent to the required shape, shown in the drawings,it is carefully ground to gage at the surfaces h, M, i and i to fit thecylinder, barrel, rod or plunger with which it has to work.

I use two rings such as just described but back to back for doubleaction;.that is to say, when passage of fluid is to be prevented in bothdirections then the line 9 of one ring is placed in contact with thelike line of the other ring. Or I may use separately either an innerside or edge or an outer side or edge of such a ring, that is to saythat part of the ring lying within, or that part lying without the line9, together With a small part to form a seat lying respectively Withoutor Within the said line 9, l

as circumstances may require for. any or all of the several functionshitherto fulfilled by U, hat, or cup leathers; by gland and pistonjointing and by suction, pressure or non-return valves. Where convenientor desirable a device according to my invention may serve in the sameconstruction the triple purpose of packing, valve and piston or bucket.

I have indicated only one process of manufacture so far, but I mayconstruct packings according to my invention from molten material or Imay carve them from the solid, and thus produced they may present anappearance entirely different from those above described, but in everycase I obtain suflicient flexibility and elasticity for the purpose athand by making the continuous contact surface and the material adjoiningof sufficient length, to allow extension and contraction, by undulatingthe contour to obtain corrugationsof a depth increasing from the saidcontact surface toward the inexpansible part of the bent sheet.

Claims 1. A combination packing and valve consisting of a sheet of hardmaterial bent to a form having a continuous expansible and contractibleperipheral surface parallel to 'the axis of said packing and valve andadapted to contact With a Wall to be packed and having corrugationsincreasing in depth from the contact surface to an inexpansible part ofthe bent sheet adapted to be held fast relatively to said wall to bepacked and the said contact surface being in part at the edges ofinclined approxi mately radial folds of the said bent sheet and in partportions of a side of said bent sheet, substantially as described.

2. A combination packing and valve consisting of a sheet of hardmaterial bent to an annular form having continuous expansible andcontractible inner and outer surfaces each adapted to contact With aWall to be packed and having corrugations increasing in depth from thecontact surfaces to an inexpansible part of the bent sheet adapted to beheld fast relatively to the Walls to be packed, the inner and outercontact surfaces being in part at the edges of inclined approximatelyradial folds of the said bent sheet and in part portions of a side ofsaid bent sheet, substantially as de scribed.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of tWo Witnesses.

ROBERT DANIEL BRADFORD.

Witnesses W. WILSON HORN, O. J. WORTH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

